A/N
Ugh! I keep deleting my notes. Whatever, enjoy!
Chapter 9
Valentina unlocked the door to her condo and stepped into the room, her heels clicking on the polished wooden floor. Jasmine turned from where she was sitting on a barstool at the kitchen counter.
"Hey, Mom," she called across the open living room.
Valentina didn't reply. She just kicked out of her heels, dropped her purse on the table and headed for the wine refrigerator. Jasmine watched quietly as she poured herself a glass of red wine and gulped it down. Valentina never drank other than a glass or two at a formal event.
"Mom…are you alright?" Jasmine asked carefully, closing her laptop and pushing away the bowl of popcorn. Suddenly she wasn't so hungry or interested in doing her English essay.
Valentina sighed deeply and ran her fingers threw her hair. "I can't find her anywhere. It's like she disappeared off the face of the Earth," she said.
"Who?" Jasmine asked, confused.
"Lindy Greybeck, Alek's mother."
Jasmine eyebrows moved even closer together as she stared at her mother. "Why do you need to find Alek's mother?"
"To invite her to stay here." Jasmine opened her mouth to say something but Valentina continued in her usual authoritative voice. "I know what you're going to say but this is not up for discussion. Yes it will be hard for Alek but I will put him in a hotel or something if he doesn't want to stay here with her?"
Jasmine sighed, "Fine, but why does she have to be here. I'm sure she has someplace to stay."
"She has a connection to the Order and now she has a connection to us, to Chloe. It's safer for everyone for me to know where she is at all times and be able to monitor who she contacts."
Valentina walked back into the other room and picked up her purse, rifling through it. She pulled out her cell phone and started dialing. Jasmine could faintly hear the phone ringing several times and then Chloe's voice as her answering machine clicked on. Valentina left a brief message telling Chloe to call her back and hung up.
"Who's watching her?" she asked her daughter. "Alek?"
"Uh, no, Cameron. Alek went to Mt. Hamilton to clear his head. He has my phone."
Valentina sighed and dialed, hung up, and dialed again. "Neither of them are picking up, this isn't good."
Instantly, Valentina switched into what Jasmine called, "leader mode."
"Go over to Chloe's house and see if she and Cameron are there. If not call me immediately. I'll be here trying to reach Alek and see if anyone has a visual on Mrs. Greybeck," Valentina ordered. She tossed Jasmine her phone and ushered her out the door before picking up the house phone and commencing dialing.
-insert line here-
Alek was way beyond the point of panicking. He was going crazy. No answers from Chloe, no answers from Cameron and none from Jasmine. Well, until he realized that he had Jasmine's phone.
He was searching through every bit of memory while driving but nothing was ringing a bell. He had honestly never heard of Lawson's. Figures having his life uprooted and moving to this damn city wouldn't do him any good in the long run. Okay, never mind. It had been worth it. Actually it had been more than worth it. He'd completely reinvented himself, found what he loved to do, made a lot of friends, and got a real family. And then there was Chloe, oh God was there Chloe.
Okay, stop, Alek scolded himself. Focus on the important thing here. Saving Chloe. And Cameron, of course.
Alek decided to try calling Valentina again. This time she picked up.
"Alek?" she asked urgently as soon as she picked up. "Where are you? Where are Chloe and Cameron?"
"It doesn't matter where I am. Cameron called me. He said some rogue Order members or something took them to an abandoned building. It says Larson's or something on the side. Do you know what that is?" Alek let out in a rush of words.
"It sounds familiar. Drive back to Chloe's house and get Jasmine. She's heading there right now. I'll call you in a few minutes when I find out." With that she hung up and Alek turned his car around and headed back towards Chloe's house.
When he got there, Jasmine was climbing through Chloe's bedroom window like she always did to get into the house. Alek climbed through one of the broken windows into the living room. It looked the same as he had left it a few minutes ago. Empty and destroyed.
At first, Jasmine didn't even notice Alek standing by the front door when she came down the steps.
"What happened in here?" she wondered aloud, looking around the room with a horrified look. She pulled out her phone to call Valentina but another phone rang first. Jasmine looked up to see her cousin fumbling around in his pocket.
"What the heck are you doing?" Jasmine asked him, still surveying the damage. "Where are Chloe and Cameron?"
He held up a finger to tell her to hold on and put the phone to his ear.
"Larson's is actually Larson's Creek. It was a premiere department store in the 20's. It's right by the water, in the middle of the industry district. Go to the Pepsi factory and head two blocks towards the water. You can't miss it," Valentina told him.
"Okay, thanks," Alek said and starte to hang up.
"Hold on, Alek," Valentina said. Alek put the phone back to his ear impatiently and waited for her to continue. "I want you and Jasmine to go check it out but do not go in. Do you hear me, do not go in. I am sending for backup so you two will wait a little ways away." Valentina ordered.
"Fine."
"Alek, do you understand me?"
Alek sighed, "Yes, ma'am."
"Good," Valentina said, "Now get going."
Alek hung up the phone and turned to Jasmine. "Let's go."
"Seriously, Alek, what's going on?" Jasmine asked, crossing her arms over her chest but not making a move towards the door.
"I'll explain in the car, just come in." Alek said and ran out of the house.
Jasmine followed and they got into the car.
"Okay, now explain," Jasmine ordered, facing her cousin.
He retold the entire story of Cameron's call, Larson's and Valentina's instructions. And by the end of, Jasmine looked even more freaked out.
"We're here," Alek announced as he pulled the black BMW across the street from the old Larson's Creek building.
"Give me my phone and I'll call Mom to let her know we're here." Jasmine said, holding her hand out to Alek.
"No need. Let's just go in." Alek said, opening the car door.
"No, Alek. Mom said we wait, so as hard as it is, we wait."
Alek seemed to consider it for a bit. "No."
"Alek," Jasmine said warningly, "you remember what happened the last time you ignored Mom's orders. The Jackals?'
"This is different! I am not going to sit here and leave Chloe in there with those people!" Alek snapped at Jasmine before stomping off. He made it a few steps away from the car before stopping and turning towards the car. "And Cameron, of course! We can't leave him in their either!"
He took off sprinting towards the building. With a begrudging sigh, Jasmine exited the car and ran after him.
-insert line here-
Chloe was visibly gaping at the women as Scarface II guided her into her chair.
"Are you alright, dear?" the lady said, looking at Chloe in concern. She turned towards one of the shadowy figures standing at attention beside the table and asked for him to bring some refreshments for the young lady.
Chloe opened her mouth to say something but all that escaped was another stunned gasp and a few stuttered gasps. Poor Alek, was all she could think.
Lindy Greybeck reached out for Chloe's hand, but Chloe jerked away from her touch. Mrs. Greybeck sighed and dropped her hand back to her lap. "I know this must be quite a shock for you. Believe me, if I had another choice, I wouldn't be doing this to any of you."
The man returned with two bottles of sparkling water and a cheese platter in his hand that wasn't a shriveled up nub attacked to an oddly bent, equally shriveled arm. Mrs. Greybeck slid one of the bottles towards the blonde at her side.
Chloe glared at the water. Knowing the people she was dealing with, it was probably poisoned. Her narrowed eyes moved up to the hand holding the bottle, to the arm attached to it, and finally to the face of the woman that should have been extremely frightened right then. Anyone that had ever met Chloe could tell you that she could be extremely…threatening to anyone that hurt someone she cared about. And Mrs. Greybeck was definitely on top of that list.
"Who do you think you are?" Chloe hissed at her, all manners forgotten. The older women tried to say something but Chloe continued on venomously. "Seriously, you think that you can just come in here and mess with Alek, pretend like you care about him and completely destroy him in the process? And then add kidnapping me, his girlfriend, to all of the terrible stuff you've done to him in his life!"
"Chloe-"
"And now what?" she continued to yell. "You're going to kill me? Well, guess what? I am not going to let you. You can try to hurt me all you want but I will not allow you to hurt any of the people that I love in any way!"
Mrs. Greybeck felt tears forming in her eyes as Chloe glared venomously at her.
Chloe opened her mouth to continue but was stopped by the four words that left Mrs. Greybeck's mouth next.
"I won't kill you."
"What?" Chloe seemed to be the only person in the room fazed by this.
The elderly woman wiped a few tears from her eyes and turned to the younger girl by her side with a pleading look. "I don't want to kill you," she assured her again. "I want your help."
"My…my help?"
"Yes."
Chloe visibly relaxed slightly. "Well, what do you need?" That was the thing about Chloe. Even in a life and death situation she wanted to help someone at all costs.
For the first time since Chloe sat down, Mrs. Greybeck genuinely smiled. "All that I need you to do is use your phone to call your pride leader. Tell her that I have you hear and she will listen to and meet my demands if she wants to get you back."
And just like, all of Chloe's relief went straight to Hell. Quite literally given her current situation. It's not like she had a fighting chance of getting out of there and besides she was dealing with Alek's mother. The woman could all but kill her and Chloe would feel too badly for Alek to lay a hand on her. Which is part of what made Mrs. Greybeck's plan so devilishly brilliant.
"What are your demands?" Chloe asked.
Mrs. Greybeck settled back in her chair and folded her arms over her chest. "Of course, how could I neglect to tell you the most important part? Silly me. Oh well, I shall do it now but you won't understand unless I tell you a bit of a story first."
Chloe nodded and raised her eyebrows in curiosity.
"Everyone in this room, including you, has something in common. We have all been wronged by the Order," Mrs. Greybeck began explaining. She gestured to Scarface II and continued, "Take Jackson here for example. He was the Order's best man for years. He was sent all around the world to do what he did until one day they sent him out without nearly enough preparation or back-up. He was jumped by at least 10 Mai and severely injured. And just like that the Order stopped helping him because he couldn't help them. He went bankrupt paying for the facial reconstruction surgeries. Then he ran out of money and ended up homeless with permanent scars all over his body. Who knows what would have happened to him if I hadn't found him. Everyone else that currently works for me had the same predicament."
Chloe didn't say anything, just stared and wondered what all of this had to do with her.
"My own husband is dying and the Order is doing nothing to help," Mrs. Greybeck said.
That surprised Chloe. "You told Alek he's dead," she pointed out.
"He almost is," Mrs. Greybeck said, 'but I didn't want to explain to Alek everything then."
"Well, what happened to him?"
"He was like Jackson, one of the Order's best men. We lived an extremely lavish lifestyle off of the bonuses he got," Mrs. Greybeck said with a sad smile and started tearing up. "And then he got lung cancer. He had it for a few months before Alek…left. Alek never knew. The Order liked Gregory so much that they were willing to give him paid leave until he got well and even pay all of his medical bills. They kept it up for years and the fact that he could get all of the best treatments is all that kept Gregory alive. The Order stopped giving us money as soon as they found out that Alek was Mai and that we'd let him go. All that we had to live off of was money I had saved from my inheritance. They…they left Gregory to die at home without doctors or medicine or anything. Because we tried to save our son."
As much as she didn't want to, Chloe sympathized with the older women. Of course, that wouldn't last long. After all, she's Chloe.
"That is where you come in," Mrs. Greybeck carried on. Chloe raised her eyebrows once again. "I am running out of funds and we all desperately need money right away. There is no way to get any from the Order, believe me, we have tried. I need it and I need it immediately to save Gregory."
"What does this have to do with me?" Chloe asked.
"If I can't get money from the Order, then I will get it from the Mai."
"The Mai?" Chloe demanded. "I sympathize with what you're going through but the Mai had nothing to do with this."
And just like that the polite, elderly British woman turned menacing. She leaned closer to Chloe and hissed, "The Mai are the reason the Order even exists. Your precious Mai inflicted all of the injuries that these fine men have had to deal with. Sure, I'd prefer to get what I want from the Order but a very close second is the Mai. The mere existence of the Mai took everything from me; my life, my family."
Chloe opened her mouth to say something but Mrs. Greybeck continued without letting her speak. "So now, Uniter, what I want you to do is call your pride leader. You will tell her that I have you and unless she meets all of my demands, I will keep you with me and you will never return to your regular life. Not kill you, because that would be such a waste of your powers, but keep you along to help me and my friends complete our goal."
"No."
Mrs. Greybeck glared at the blonde teenager. "This will not affect you in the slightest. The Mai live life's too lavish for the vermin that they are- no offense intended to you because I think you are a delightful young woman-and we will get our money and leave you with your friends and family."
"No."
The elderly woman's eyes narrowed further. She enunciated each word carefully, putting extra stress on her threats. "If you don't, you will never return to your life, your home, your school, your family, your friends. Is that what you want Chloe? I have known you for a very limited amount of time but it's plain to see that those are the things that matter most to you. Do you-"
'No!" Chloe shouted, interrupting the woman. "What you're asking is ridiculous, especially since you don't even bother to pretend like you respect the Mai.'
Every feature on Lindy Greybeck's face turned feral. "Fine, if your own life at home isn't enough incentive for you, then maybe having to watch the people you care about lose their lives for good will be."
Chloe eyes widened. She followed the elderly woman's gaze to the French doors. Mrs. Greybeck shouted out a name that Chloe was far too distracted to hear. The French doors slammed open and in two men, pulling two struggling figures along with them, all of them cloaked in shadows.
Hope it didn't suck too much! Peace out until next time. I'm watching the Breakfast Club and boy is it weird but funny. So...I'm gonna go watch it now.
Review!